#2703 My Picks From Paris Fashion Week — Autumn Winter 2015

January 27, 2015

Paris Fashion Week Autumn Winter 2015, and the European menswear season as a whole, is officially done and dusted. Right now in Paris the Haute Couture collections are being shown, and shortly after that, the entire fashion world as a whole will decamp for New York Fashion Week, which starts on February the 12th. It’s all happening. So without further ado, these my top picks from our week in Paris.

This singular look from the Dior Homme show was my personal favourite outfit of the week in Paris. It was the coat that did it for me — I love the colour, the enlarged Prince of Wales check, and how good it looks with denim. A special mention has to be given to the Dior Homme show, too, for having a full orchestra playing the soundtrack live as the models walked. Amazing.

Paris is a city where we see a lot of juxtaposition — from naked appendages hanging free at Rick Owens, to something simple and wearable like this suede leather bomber and charcoal dress pants combo by APC. It might not be pushing fashion forward in leaps and bounds, but who wouldn’t want to wear it?

If you’re only going to own one drop shoulder shearling parka next winter, Berluti’s wouldn’t be a bad option.

Damir Doma is one of those brands that’s been at the forefront of the whole gothic ninja look over the past five years, but this season the colour palette got lighter, the fabrics got softer, and the combination of that blanket coat and those high-waisted pants was one that I really liked. We’re so used to seeing tailoring with sharp edges in menswear that it’s a refreshing change to see something with a bit of gentle drapery. Also, it’s freezing outside, and that thing looks easy to wrap.

This look by AMI had whiffs of a luxury 1950s take on casual Friday in the office, and I loved it.

I posted this one on Instagram the moment the show walked — you cannot beat that tartan bomber jacket by Dries Van Noten. What a piece.

Like I mentioned with APC, there’s nothing wrong with classically beautiful menswear, and if you’re a guy who wears a suit and overcoat to work, you can’t get much better than this look by Hermes.

This was the season of the turtleneck sweater. They were everywhere across London, Florence, Milan and Paris. Time to start stocking up. Kenzo showed some of the best; take a look at all the knitwear in that collection, it was great stuff.

Layered luxury featuring leather by Lanvin.

The Louis Vuitton coat is a similar proportion to the Dior Homme coat that I love, but check out that pattern — it looks like it’s laser cut into the cloth. The moral of the story is that it’s time to invest in an oversized overcoat, preferably with some surface interest. Wear it with khakis, jeans, suit pants or corduroys. Dress it up or dress it down. It’s a winner.

Sweater of the season goes to Maison Kitsune for this modern day reprisal of a vintage Swedish ski knit. WOW.

Paul Smith mixed things up by pairing his heavy shoulder-padded suit jackets with narrow-cut high-waisted suit pants, which made his models look like schoolboys who’d raided their dad’s wardrobe. I’m not mad at it. The proportions work so well because if you take a closer look at the fits, you’ll see that the jacket is big in the shoulder, but short in the sleeve and body length, but it’s given the appearance of length because the pants have a few extra inches in the rise. Brilliant tailoring.

Sandro showed its high-end High Street collection for the first time on schedule here in Paris, and this was the best look of the lot. I don’t know if it would have occurred to me to throw together some stonewash jeans with a white turtleneck, white socks, and black shoes and jacket, but I’m really into it. The whole look makes me think of the 1968 student protests in Paris by way of the early 80s music scene in Manchester. Yes, that’s a really specific aesthetic analogy, but just picture the movie The Dreamers, and then The Smiths, and cut halfway down the middle and you’ll get what I’m talking about.

Finally, Valentino knocked one out of the park with that solar system emblazoned bomber jacket. I haven’t seen it up close, yet, but I’m already obsessed.